Islam Times - Iraqi officials have said the US is still seeking to divide Iraq even after the withdrawal of its troops from the country.

They said a Federalism Project is aimed at dividing Iraq based on sectarian and ethnic divisions.

In his recent visit to Basra the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki described the federalism as a conspiracy against Iraq to chop the country into three pieces, and warned of the consequences of the federalism in the country.

Iraqi lawmakers stressed that the government will stand against Washington’s efforts to divide Iraq based on ethnic divisions.

The idea of dividing Iraq into three regions was first introduced by the US vice President Joe Biden. In 2007, then-Senator Joe Biden made several unsuccessful attempts at enlisting Sunni support for federalism. Since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 the US have attempted to divide Iraq through either sectarian violence or political disputes, but all these attempts have failed.